


A Potential Loophole To Exploit

by afteriwake



Series: Just Pieces On The Board [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sherlock (TV), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Annoyed Molly Hooper, Antoine Triplett Lives, Asgard, Assembling The Team, Awesome Phil Coulson, Brothers, Canon Divergence - Post-Thor: The Dark World, Cheerful Phil Coulson, Early Mornings, Encouragement, Fitzsimmons Fanboying, Frigga (Marvel) Lives, Gen, In Charge Phil Coulson, Loki Is Plotting, London, Mentions of Hela - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, Plans, Plans For The Future, Post-Thor: The Dark World, Pre-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Reunions, Skye | Daisy Johnson & Darcy Lewis Friendship, working together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2019-07-29 18:53:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16270274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: After Thor and Loki leave a meeting with their mother, they start to talk about what can be done to stave off the foretold arrival of their sister, Hela, and begin to make plans.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dreamin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamin/gifts).



> So this is a fic that I will expand upon into a few more chapters, taking a few things from the end of "Thor Ragnarok" (the destruction of Asgard stopping Hela and the people of Asgard being refugees) to put into motion earlier in this series to avoid Hela causing all the issues she does and still having Asgard be destroyed. This comes from a prompt **Dreamin** gave me (" _Thor & Loki, up to T, 'issues.'_") ages ago to answer.

It was a rare moment of peace, after the upheaval caused by their father’s death. Thor hadn’t really thought much about the fact Loki claimed Odin Allfather as his father until now, when the fighting was said and done. There was upheaval in Asgard, yes, but a new threat was sure to emerge, one their mother told them about: so long as Odin had been alive, there was an unknown sister who had been banished that he had kept away. But with his death, it was unknown if she would stay away as long as Frigga was on the throne or if her arrival would come as foretold.

Hela was bloodthirsty, their mother said, and only the destruction of Asgard would suffice to draw away her power. For now, having Frigga on the throne was enough, but if it would last…

Thor and Loki had left a meeting in their mothers quarters and were walking back to the grand hall, both lost in their silence. “You don’t want to stay in Asgard,” Loki said quietly.

“No,” Thor said. “I feel more comfortable on Earth. And you?”

“I doubt I would be accepted on Earth, as punishment of my past actions. But I do not deserve to rule Asgard, either. That is your right. Or...hers.”

“As our eldest sister, that is true, but it would be ill-fated for her to rule,” Thor pointed out. “As Mother said, the destruction of Asgard would be needed to let her bloodlust be sated.”

“Then why not destroy Asgard?” Loki asked, stopping in his tracks. “If Earth is more your home than Asgard, then let us move Asgard to Earth.”

“The entire planet, brother?” Thor said, the corner of his mouth quirking up.

“What was it Mother said? Asgard is a people, not a place. If that’s true, then it may not work. But if our sister is to draw her powers from the planet and the planet is no more...”

“It would take negotiations with the Earth’s government,” Thor mused. “I wonder if it would be alright to summon the Son of Coul for help, now that we know he is not dead, though I suspect Sif was not to tell us.”

“You have proven yourself a good negotiator in times past,” Loki pointed out. “Have mother go with you. Or bring Earth’s representatives come here to show what we can offer Earth if we are given a chance to go there.”

“Would you come with us?” Thor asked, turning to look at Loki.

“If I am allowed, yes,” Loki said. “I do not wish to abandon my family again.”

Thor thumped Loki’s shoulders from across his back. “Then let us turn around and suggest your plan to mother. Perhaps this might save us all in the end."


	2. Chapter 2

**\-- One Week Later --**

“Molly!”

Molly groaned as she spied Coulson on her doorstep when she opened the door to her home. “You sound altogether too chipper for this early in the morning.”

He held up a cup of coffee. “I come bearing a royal invitation to another planet.”

Molly gave him a flat stare. “Yes. It’s far too early for this.” She took the coffee and moved to let him in. Coulson opened his mouth to speak again but she held up a finger and took a long sip of her coffee. When she was done, she looked at him. “I take it there are ways to get to Asgard?”

“With the help of Jane Foster,” Coulson said with a nod. “But first, I’m being asked to assemble a team to protect the ambassadors who are going to see if there’s a way we can migrate the population of Asgard to Earth to stave off the Apocalypse.”

“Ours or theirs?”

“Theirs. We thought Loki was bad. Apparently, they have an older sister who’s worse.”

Molly’s brows scrunched slightly. “I thought Thor said Loki was adopted.”

“Well, apparently a lot has changed. Brief rundown, Loki was imprisoned until something happened to Jane and someone tried to kill her in Asgard. Loki helped save the day, much to everyone’s surprise, but Odin, the King? He died. Their mother is on the throne now and she informed them about the sister their father kept hidden.”

“And I thought my family history was complicated.” She had another sip of her coffee. “Why ask me?”

“Well, I wanted to have a few people with expertise beyond protection. I know you did protection details in your time in S.H.I.E.L.D., but you’re also medically proficient. You could be a help to the government officials who aren’t going to get everything they see.”

“Who else do you have so far?”

“Jane Foster, obviously. My team, so that means I have Fitzsimmons on the science side and Skye as a tech specialist. I was hoping I could get you, Sherlock and Mary to agree?”

“Mary’s in the middle of wedding planning,” she said. “But I think Sherlock would be amenable. He’s between cases at the moment.” She paused. “What about Mycroft?”

“Hmm?”

“Well, he’s had some field training, but he’s...I mean, is it just politicians associated with S.H.I.E.L.D. who are going? Because even though we’re in the open again, there’s still mistrust. Having Mycroft there as a neutral party representing the British would bolster things. And perhaps a Senator friendly to us but not associated with us.”

“It’s easier to find a Senator associated with HYDRA than it is S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Coulson said wryly, “but we’re weeding them out. Slowly and surely.”

“Yes, Natasha was telling me since she and Clint aren’t hunting metahumans anymore. I gather Clint is a lot happier to be in one place, more or less.”

“He misses his farm, though. That’s the complaint I’m hearing now.”

“Are they coming as well?” Molly asked before having more coffee.

“Well, they aren’t really on my team, and I think Nat is busy, but if you want Clint to join us I can promise him a week in his cabin in exchange.” He paused. “Tony Stark expressed interest. If anyone is going to get the tech the best, it would be him.”

“I haven’t seen him in an age,” Molly said, perking up. “He should come as well.”

“Then I think our team is settled. If Clint’s got a bow and arrow and Tony has his suit, we have representatives from the Avengers who can double for protection detail.” He nodded to the coffee. “Enjoy that. You’ve got a busy few days ahead of you. Everyone will be here in London tomorrow by 0800 and then it’s off to Jane’s lab to meet with Thor and his brother.”

“I don’t know how I feel about working with Loki, but if he’s trusted by Thor, and Thor is an Avenger, I suppose that’s enough for me.” She nodded towards the door. “I’ll make sure Sherlock and I are ready and wherever you need us to be tomorrow.”

“There was a reason you were always my favorite,” Coulson said with a grin, standing up.

“Don’t say that around Melinda. She says I’m her favourite and I don’t think she wants to share,” she said with a smile. Coulson grinned even wider and then put his sunglasses on and headed out the door, leaving Molly to her morning coffee and a prospect she had never thought she would experience: a trip to another planet.


	3. Chapter 3

To Coulson’s eyes, it looked as though the assembled team of his looked like a bunch of kids going on a cool school field trip and their jaded chaperones. It was pretty easy to tell who the science fanatics were by who was most excited. He didn’t seem at all surprised, however, to find Fitz and Leo fawning over Tony Stark, who was fawning back in some measure. That was probably the only surprise...at least so far.

He moved over to where Clint and Molly were standing, saw they were in heavy conversation, and then moved over to Sherlock and his brother. “Glad you could join us, Mr. Holmes. And you too, Mycroft.”

Sherlock snorted a quick laugh and then covered it up while Mycroft glared. “There were many others above my pay grade who could be coming,” Mycroft said.

“Mycroft it’s an _alien planet_. While I may have been obsessed with pirates as a child, you were the one who enjoyed alien invasion movies? Well, congratulations. You’re among the first humans aside from Ms. Foster to go to an alien planet in your lifetime.”

Mycroft looked a bit more mollified at that. “It does seem more adventurous than bureaucratic work when you put it that way,” he said.

“Trust me, there are enough politicians going with that you’ll get bored of us and drift back to them,” Coulson said, adjusting his sunglasses. “Though I hear the science is pretty interesting. Supposedly the offers of technology that Thor and Loki are saying would be available to the world is pretty spectacular.”

“But how much depends on the planet’s resources and how much can be replicated here?” Mycroft asked.

“Make sure you ask that question when the other politicians are all glazed over with the spectacle,” Coulson said, clapping Mycroft on the back. He moved away over to those on his own personal team and motioned for them to move away from Stark and, in Skye’s case, away from Darcy Lewis, who was coming along with Jane. The two of them looked cozy and he felt a trickle on panic at the back of his neck. “So we have some muscle, some clout and whatnot, but I need you all to be alert. We’ve had run-ins with their tech and we know Sif, which is an in for us, but still.”

“Who should we be sticking closest to?” Triplett asked.

Coulson thought for a moment. “Let Molly handle Mycroft. They’re practically family, and she’s got a good grasp on how to deal with both Holmes brothers at once. May, Trip, you stay with the politicians. I’ll have Barton join you if trouble breaks out. Fitz, Simmons, I know you want to stay near Stark, so you two and Skye can cover the scientists with Stark as your muscle. I’ll keep my eye on the Odinson brothers.”

“You still don’t trust Loki, do you?” Melinda asked.

“Not by a long shot, but we saw what that cube under his power did to Barton and Selvig. Thor thinks he was under its influence too, so there’s that. I’m willing to forgive, I suppose, just not forget.” He looked around. “As soon as they show up, move discretely into your groups and stick with them as long as we’re on Asgard. Remember, the kingdom at large doesn’t know what we know about the imminent threat, and neither do the politicians, for the most part. This whole venture is kind of a Hail Mary in that it might stop the sister if there’s no Asgard left.”

“You really think that the governments of the world will allow the whole entire planet to be blown up?” Jemma asked.

“It’s not our planet and we’re taking refugees if it all works out,” Coulson said. “Asgard may keep for a time until we can get what the Asgardians need, but right now? Not our planet, not our choice.”

The assorted team nodded and that was when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Molly had come over. “Sorry to interrupt your team meeting, But Jane said they should arrive at any moment.”

Coulson nodded. “You heard what Agent Hooper said. Get ready.” Almost as soon as he was done speaking an incredibly bright light filled the area, causing almost everyone to reach for sunglasses or look away, and then he grinned as the light dissipated and it was just Thor there. “Oh, he made a good choice,” he murmured.

“No brother?” Molly asked.

“Exactly.” They moved closer, Molly going back to the Holmes brothers as though she’d heard Coulson’s instructions, and Coulson went to Thor. “Thor Odinson.” He held out his hand, to which Thor smiled greatly and pulled him into a brotherly-type embrace.

“Son of Coul! You live! I thought Sif had been mistaken, but no, it is indeed you.”

“Yeah, well, things happened but yeah, I’m alive,” he said as he hugged Thor back. Then he took a moment to compose himself and gestured to the politicians, scientists, and his team. “Is this too many people?”

“No, there are not too many,” Thor said. “My mother and brother await in the golden halls of the palace. Shall we?” Thor gestured to the intricate symbols on the ground. “If all of you would gather in the circle, it would be much appreciated and a far easier job for Heimdall.” They all began to move towards the circle, Jane giving Thor a quick kiss on the cheek before he reached over for her hand, and once they were all inside the confines of the circle, Thor spoke again. “We are ready, Heimdall!” The light enveloped them again, and they traveled across what felt like a rainbow tube where they didn’t need to move, and then suddenly it was all gone and they were walking into a golden building and seeing a large black man with a sword in a machine that he was turning. “Friends, representatives...welcome to Asgard.”


	4. Chapter 4

The group of politicians and the scientists were equally awed by the things they saw, and Molly was quite interested in it herself, but unlike Sherlock and Mycroft, she was here more to protect the assorted group of people from Earth rather than being there to judge whether it would be in Earth’s best interest to take in the Asgardians as refugees. She hung back, admiring the childlike glee on both Sherlock and Mycroft’s faces as they saw some of the things the Asgardians were capable of.

“They call it magic,” Jane said, coming up to her. Thor was busy and it seemed Jane wasn’t as in awe as the others, even her assistant, but then she’d spent time on Asgard. Had her very DNA changed, according to Natasha. Whether there would be lasting effects would remain to be seen. “I mean, it is all explainable as highly theoretical science, but here, it’s magic.”

“The things they’ve shown us...Earth would put them to good use,” Molly said.

“And Thor has said there will be hefty promises needing to be made and kept in order to use them so they don’t fall into the wrong hands,” Jane said. “I think his mother will be working out the agreements and Thor will be enforcing them with S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“That’s good to know,” Molly said with a smile.

“You don’t look as...impressed,” Jane said.

“Oh no, that’s not the case,” Molly said with a soft chuckle. “My interests lie in pathology. This is all very exciting, but...not my field. I had my hands full when they were in London and that was fascinating, to me.”

“I think Thor still feels bad for all that,” Jane said. “This was part of his way to make amends.”

“And it’s a good one,” Molly agreed. “Loki said something about treasures being distributed to various governments with Norway getting the bulk for housing the refugees?”

Jane nodded. “That seems to be a popular suggestion, and each government would get what is best suited for them to display and protect. But yes, the Norwegian prime minister keeps trying to talk Frigga’s ear off about the treasure, but Loki I think has it under control.”

“You don’t like him much, do you?” Molly asked.

“I trust him, though, so there’s that,” Jane said. “His mother and he saved my life when I was here. It cost Odin _his_ life, but their illusory magic skills bought enough time for me to be hidden from Malekith. And Loki, in particular, swore his vengeance for the death of Odin. I don’t think he really considered him his father again until that moment.”

“I suppose it could be worse. Phil I know has concrete reasons to hate him, and yet he seems to have forgiven him.” They were joined then by Clint. “Bored?”

“Sif is talking about showing the politicians the battle prowess of the armies of Asgard, and I don’t know whether they’re ready to see it or are going to cream their pants knowing the army is coming with the refugees. That might be a sticking point in negotiations.”

“I’ll speak to Mycroft, then,” Molly said as she uncrossed her arms. “If anyone can get all sides to listen to reason, it’s the British governmental agent with almost as much power as the Queen.” Molly moved aside towards the Holmes brothers, leaving Clint and Jane alone.

“You have reason to dislike Loki too, don’t you?” Jane asked. “Thor mentioned you were involved in things before the Battle of New York.”

Clint nodded, his lips in a thin line. “I’m not quite on the forgiveness bandwagon, but if there was a number being played on Loki’s mind too, and he’d been around it all longer...” He let his words trail off. “He steps out of line today, though, and I’m going to have a lot of fun playing stick the arrow in the traitor.”

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” she said. “And I don’t think it will; his main quarrel was with Odin. His mother...she has his complete allegiance.”

“And Thor, if she ever steps down?” Clint asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I think Thor does as well. They are back to being the brothers they used to be, without the competitiveness.” She pointed over to Darcy and Loki, who were speaking quietly on the fringes of the group. “And I think Darcy has her eye on him, so there’s that.”

“Is that so?” Clint asked, huffing out a slight laugh. “Coulson told us about her and her tendency to taze those who irritate her.”

“And she has a fully loaded tazer on her. She heard about what happened here to me, she wants to defend herself. So you may not get to make a pincushion out of Loki if he steps out of line.”

“Shame, that,” Clint said as Thor began speaking and leading the group to the training grounds. “Maybe some other time.”

“Maybe,” Jane said before looping an arm through Clint’s. “I bet there’s an archery ground around here. Let’s talk Thor into letting you show off.”

“I like the way you think, Foster,” Clint said, a real smile blossoming on his face. Jane grinned back and they headed along with the group.


End file.
